The present invention relates to a menstrual fluid management device that is attached directly to the wearer utilising an adhesive. The device allows for direct and immediate containment of menstrual and other vaginal discharges and thereby prevents soiling of garments whilst being comfortable to wearer, small in size and discrete.
Disposable sanitary napkin and pantiliners are well known articles of manufacture that are designed to be placed in the genital region of the wearer to protect undergarments from soiling by absorbing the discharged fluids. As such these articles typically are formed from a liquid permeable topsheet, a liquid impermeable backsheet and an absorbent core sandwiched in-between and are attached to the undergarment of the wearer.
However these products do not provide an entirely satisfactory performance. In particular the key performance requirements of complete absorption of fluid without soiling, comfortable to wear product under all items of clothing and a small and discrete product are not fulfilled by any article currently available despite continued development effort in the area. Typically improvement in one performance attribute ultimately results in a reduced performance in another.
In order to address the absorption and comfort issues, the prior art describes the use of so called body adhesives to attach the articles directly to the skin of the wearer. In this manner the articles can be more effectively positioned so as to ensure direct absorption of the discharged fluids whilst being independent of the location of the undergarments. In this manner the problems of bunching for example that result in wearer discomfort can be reduced.
For example GB 2 284 767 discloses sanitary napkins provided with a body adhesive to attach the article the wearers"" torso. U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,363 discloses pressure sensitive hot melt adhesives for sanitary products. WO 96/13228 discloses absorbent articles having an adhesive applied to the bodyfacing surface for securement of the article to the wearer without pain upon removal.
Similarly WO 98/27918, WO 98/28023 and WO 98/81014 disclose adhesives defined in terms of rheology for secure attachment of absorbent articles to the skin that provide comfortable removal with a low level of pain.
However the application of adhesive on the topsheet of such articles reduces the available surface area of the topsheet available to absorb the discharged fluids and thus can lead to undergarment soiling.
Hence there is a still a need to provide an article that can be effectively utilised to absorb menstrual fluids, and the like, and thereby prevent leakage and soiling, whilst being comfortable to wear and having dimensions that allow the product to be worn discretely. It is an objective of the present invention to provide such a device.
The present invention relates to a disposable menstrual fluid management device (10). The disposable menstrual fluid management device (10) comprises a bag (11), having an aperture (13) that is surrounded by an adhesive (20) for releasable attachment to the uro-genital area of the wearer. An absorbent material (15) is contained within said bag. Preferably the bag also contains odour control actives.